In a semiconductor manufacturing process, a process such as, for example, etching of a substrate to be processed or a film forming on the substrate to be processed is performed in a processing apparatus. For example, the processing such as etching or film forming with respect to the substrate to be processed is performed by generating the plasma of processing gas in the processing apparatus.
After the processing is performed on the substrate to be processed, microparticles are generated in the processing container. The microparticles are generated by, for example, the reaction of the plasma of the processing gas with an electrostatic chuck or a member in the processing container such as an inner wall of the processing container.
The microparticles generated in the processing container adversely affect the processing of the substrate to be processed or performance of semiconductor devices to be manufactured. Accordingly, cleaning has been conventionally performed to remove microparticles in the processing container before the substrate to be processed is carried into the processing container. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technique of removing microparticles by applying voltage to a member in a processing container to scatter the microparticles adhering to the member.